The future of the PHEV in the US is unclear. PHEV vehicles will continue to be marketed, sold in limited numbers. Going forward the US market for PHEV is not likely to include offerings from GM. Look to Ford (Lincoln) for new 2020 model year PHEVs. Volvo, BMW and Mercedes will continue to offer some PHEV but EV range for these models will rarely exceed 20 miles. The Chrysler Pacifica PHEV will continue to be available with ~30 miles of EV range. (The Pacifica PHEV makes economic sense in local/city driving but any savings when taking longer trips quickly evaporates, might as well be driving a gas powered Pacifica.) Honda has pulled back on selling the Clarity PHEV from all markets except CA. Toyota continues to offer the Prius Prime with 25 miles of EV range even as future Prius sales are increasingly being captured by the Tesla Model 3. The Kia and Hyundai PHEV don't sell in sufficient numbers to have broad impact in the market.

I expect that 3 years from now the number of PHEV models will be about the same as today, in 6 years there will be fewer PHEV offerings. In 10 years I do not see PHEV being sold in the US as the majority of vehicles sold will be gas/gas hybrid vehicles and the rest EVs. Trucks will continue to primarily use gas or diesel.

 

The issue here is the politics of incentives. ZEV credits and tax rebates are changing and no longer favorable for the Volt. Battery prices are decreasing and will continue to do so, making BEV's more attractive. You did not mention the Bolt for some reason but it is a strong alternative to the Volt.

You mention Ford several times, they will be revealing more information about their new crossover BEV "Mach e" this November. Ford seems to have an interest in PHEV going forward with rumors regarding future products, but non to be seen at the moment. Ford still has tax incentives left and ZEV credits are favorable for BEV.

There will be other alternatives going forward from other manufacturers also.

 

Meant to mention Bolt with Kona and Niro. Just too small for me. Also reluctant to return to GM EVs due to lower quality interior materials (this is true pretty much across the entire Chevy line -- I just think the fit and finish and quality of Ford, Hyundai, and Honda vehicles seems to be a tick above what Chevy is doing) where other vehicles are price competitive and get the full $7500 tax credit.

 

I just viewed a preview of the 2020 Lincoln Aviator on CNET. The 2020 Aviator is a 7 seat SUV that will be available as a PHEV (good for 20 miles of EV range.) Massive HP and torque in the PHEV version of the Aviator, pricing starts at $52k but can be optioned up to $80k+ for the higher trim levels as a PHEV.

 

Sorry, I don't see the Bolt as a "strong alternative to the Volt" which is a transition car with unlimited range. EV's and PHEV's are still too expensive, as Honda and others are finding out and perhaps GM's crystal ball was right on in abandoning the Volt before a viable replacement is available. A viable replacement for GM appears to be an all-electric. But two things need to happen for me to trade off my '16 Volt for an EV: 500 mi. range OR 80% charging in 10 minutes or less. I am now old. Volt may be my last car.

 

I don't agree that PHEVs are too expensive. The Clarity stickers at $33,400 base and comes pretty well equipped with modern smartphone integration, partial leather trimmed heated seats, and Honda Sensing/ACC. After accounting for the $7500 tax credit, it's $25,900. That's basically the same price as a base Accord Hybrid and cheaper than the lowest trim gas model Accord that includes CarPlay/Android Auto. The Touring is $36,600 -- $29,100 after tax credit, making it $1,000 less than a comparably equipped Accord EX-L.

 

People flat out can't understand PHEV's. They often can't even understand hybrid cars (vague notion that electricity is involved, but don't know where it comes from). They're scared that any car with a traction battery will have a sudden, very expensive repair from which they won't recover. This last one isn't altogether unjustified.

People shop by monthly payment level and increasingly lease instead of buy.

People don't pay attention to fuel economy unless their situation requires frequent, long distance driving.

I can't pretend to not be disappointed in the general public.

I am hoping to buy a 2020 Honda Clarity but Honda recently announced that they're allocating them only to California. Dealers in other states are to have the option of ordering them but there's no evidence of that yet.

I needed immediate transportation so I bought a 2 year old Leaf. That'll buy me the time to see what Honda does with the Clarity in 2020.

 

As far as I know, almost all electric or partially electric vehicles have an 8 year, 100,000 mile battery/EV powertrain warranty (or longer depending on state regs). Shouldn't that be enough to assuage concerns? As you mentioned, people are keeping cars for shorter and shorter periods of time, so shouldn't this be less of a worry.

 

Here is a snapshot of some current deals on PHEV and EV: https://insideevs.com/features/367400/best-electric-car-deals-labor-day-2019/

In the PHEV category you can lease a 2019 Prius Prime PHEV for $299/mo + $1,999 at signing; a Kia Niro PHEV for $249/mo + $2,999 at signing

In the EV category you can get up to $6,500 off the price of a 2019 Chevy Bolt (this offer only applies to Bolts purchased in CA.) You can lease a Tesla Model 3 (probably the Model 3 SR+ with 10,000 miles per year mileage allowance) for $399/mo + $3,500

Ignoring the capital cost reduction (the lease down payment), you can be driving a new Tesla Model 3 for between $100 - $150 more per month than a Toyota or a Kia. When you factor in that you won't be buying any gas, either of these PHEV lease deals do not seem as attractive as the lease deal for the Model 3 (unless you absolutely must have a hatch back vehicle to carry your stuff. There is also the current 2019 Chevy Bolt.)

 

I don't like to look at monthly payments when making car decisions. I like to look at total cost of lease/purchase.

In your deals, assuming 3 year term, the Prime costs $12,763, the Kona costs $11,963, and the Tesla costs $17,864. Most people are still going to have to pay for electricity to charge, and I doubt that fuel savings will equalize the $5000 price difference within 3 years. Not saying that the TM3 lease deal is bad -- it's a better car, but its not in the same ballpark as those other two.

 

When I first bought my 2013 Volt, I thought it was a car 10 years ahead of its time, which is proving to be true. Chevrolet was way ahead of the pack with the Volt and it's too bad they didn't continue improving it. I plan to drive mine for as long as I can, and would buy another Volt after that if it was available.

 

I have a Volt and Bolt. The Bolt has markedly more room on the inside. It seems to be slightly narrower thou I haven’t objectively checked. The Bolt is an honest 4 adult car. The Volt is more a 2 adult and 2 midsize kids car. Luggage room goes to the Bolt if you don’t have the silly false floor in the back.

 

The Bolt is an honest 4 adult car.

Absolutely. Occasionally I take 87, 92, and 75 year old friends to a local restaurant. Relatively easy for them to enter/exit front or rear and they find the seats comfortable.
They are very complimentary of the car for comfort and performance.
For baggage room, we await the Bolt EUV, 2021?

 

To me the PHEV is a perfect vehicle, as it is electric for my daily commute but can go longer distances with 5 minute gas station stops. The only downside is the complexity of having both electric motors and an ICE. I am on my second Volt and I would buy another one in the future if they had not been discontinued. I heard the Jeep Renegade will have a PHEV option, but I plan on keeping my Volt for at least another 6-8 years. Maybe buy then BEVs will be cheap enough and have fast enough charging speeds to make them worthwile.

I find people are confused by a PHEV, they either think they are a BEV with limited range or a Hybrid with poor (for a Hybrid) gas mileage.

 

Chevy Marketing could not have done more to utterly kill the Volt. The last (only?) ad they ran on TV for it was a bleak horror show, and they knew it. Someone in GM really HATED that car — and they eventually won. Sad because as the OP said, there’s not anything comparable out there and it’s probably the car we most desperately need to get ahead of climate change. Maybe someone better will someday bring it back from China (where the next-generation, Velite 6, lives in exile).

 

I really don't get why people can't understand PHEV like the volt. It's SO simple: Plug it in at home, then get in and drive the next day. Car will use its battery for 40-50 miles and switch to gas when it needs to, although unlikely most days. If gas gets low, fill it up like every other car. THAT'S BASICALLY IT. Can't understand that? Are we really that stupid?

My wife is not technical and handles it just fine. The Volt takes care of all the battery/engine switching for her. She plugs it in every night, and then just drives it the next day. This is hard to understand?? Help us as a race..

 

I think you're right that it's not complicated. My wife also drove it for about 4 months and after starting had no issues with it, but she was initially a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information on the car and its apparent complexity. I just told her to drive it like a regular car and there were no issues.

It is not hard to understand when you use it from one day to the next. It is hard to encapsulate in a 30 second TV spot. When I talk to people about it, it usually takes me about 3 minutes to explain it all to intelligent people who didn't know about it before. There are typically 3-5 follow up questions in those 2 minutes, all of which most people are satisfied with the answers -- the most common seem to be -- how big is the gas tank, how long does it take to charge, does it automatically switch from electric to gas -- and most people are surprised at the relatively normal sized tank. They're also initially surprised at the amount of time to charge (not surprising given all the hype around a Tesla adding 200 miles in 45 minutes), but when you explain the use case and typical day/night charging cycle, they get it.

It is not hard to understand, but it is new and different. Those are two things that people tend to be really averse to when making large investments, and specifically when buying cars where many have more solid brand loyalties and aversions than in other areas. Additionally, while Chevy didn't have many ads, explaining all of that in a 30 second car ad would be extremely difficult, and even if possible, it would take away any time that car manufacturers typically dedicate to the stuff that sells 90% of their cars (emotional appeals, styling, price -- talk about an area with a lot of contingencies on the Volt, technology features, etc.)

I think price is a main driver of a lot of car purchase decisions. Putting aside cash on the hood, the Volt just has too many ifs or buts associated with its price to make an effective ad. If you tell someone that a compact Chevy sedan/liftback with cloth seats costs $33,000, they will (rightfully) laugh in your face. If you tell them it costs $23,000 to get a super efficient vehicle, they'll probably think a little longer about it. If you tell them that it effectively cost $23,000 so long as they have at least $7,500 in federal tax liability, and they have to wait until April to get that $7,500 back, and they live in a state with incentives, they will lose interest and fall asleep.

I think the Clarity ads from a year ago, where the car was driving along and then drove through the end of the battery and just kept driving were the best one could expect in a 30 second ad for a PHEV, but they were also unable to highlight so many aspects of the car, and on top of it, despite a pretty aggressive ad campaign, the thing is still not selling.

 

I feel the Volt was a success for it's intended purpose. I feel that purpose was to ease the transition from fossil fuel to electric vehicles and it has done an admirable job at doing so.

When the Volt was first introduced battery technology and cost were not where they are now. Thus having a gasoline powered engine to increase the range of an electric powerplant was necessary. Today with pure EV vehicle range exceeding 200 miles the need for a dual powertrain configuration is no longer necessary. A pure EV can meet the needs of the majority of people who want to participate in EV driving.

When I purchased my Volt range was a consideration and having a gasoline backup was reassuring. When I replace my Volt I am going to consider a pure EV. It doesn't make sense to have the maintenance of a ICE engine when I've got an electric drivetrain too.

So, IMO, the Volt is no longer needed in today's EV market. It's a great car and I'm very pleased with mine. I expect to keep it for quite some time. But it's very unlikely I would buy another. Not because it's a bad car but rather the EV offerings have eliminated the need to have a ICE backup.

 

PHEV are not dead. 2020 Ford Escape PHEV will have 30 miles of EV range. I suspect the other Ford PHEV offerings will be similar range. Also, BWM i3 Rex is still being manufactures and has 97 miles of EV range.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1122398_2020-ford-escape-revealed-hybrid-returns-teasing-nearly-40-mpg-plug-in-with-30-electric-miles

 

Agreed, however I believe history will go onto prove that a vehicle, such as the Volt, was and still is a good value proposition for the purchaser. It is great commuter car, economical to drive and has "unlimited" range. Kudos to GM for designing and building it. Was at a local EV gathering last weeknd and the Volt still stands out as being the most versatile of the offerings out there.

 

Guys, the meme that the Volt sold poorly just isn't true. Until the advent of the Tesla Model 3, the Volt was the best-selling plug-in North America. Even now, it is the second best selling. It also has incredibly high customer satisfaction ratings.

The problem with the Volt had little to do with its status as a PHEV. Its problem was that it was too small for a lot of buyers, and hence they wouldn't even consider it. GM simply refused, REFUSED mind you, to make a compact or midsize SUV using the Voltec drive train.

The Volt was completely unique in the market as a PHEV with more than 50 miles of electric range that had enough power to stay in EV mode under virtually all driving conditions until the battery was depleted. Under moderately hard acceleration, the Honda Clarity would turn on the gas engine and it has less range to boot, and now isn't even sold nation wide.

 

I wouldn't say it failed. While it may have only got about 7-8 years of production runs, that probably means at least a dozen years of them in use for many. I think they brought many to the EV world that may not have considered it previously. I know they did that for me.
And it fit in perfectly for what I wanted, when I wanted it.
My daily commute is 20 miles each way, so the 38-40 miles per charge was perfect for me. I got a 2013 off a 3 year lease about 2.5 years ago, so price was reasonable, and savings in gas from driving my Ridgeline to work and back pretty much paid for the car payment, so was able to keep the Ridgeline as a part-timer for camping, hauling mulch, etc...
The Volt also fit in because I take a trip out to mom's at times, and that's about 180 miles round trip, so the ICE comes in handy on those trips as just a once in a while way to go longer distances than normal, while still keeping the day-to-day on battery.
I like the peformance of the Volt over what the standard day-to-day hybrid is here - the Prius.
The size was a bit small and awkward for me to get in and out, but bearable for a daily commute.

Where I think the Volt might have lost points is with the dealers. Mine has barely needed any service, so that's not so good for dealer service depts. Makes it harder to justify having a person on staff that knows the Volt well, although my local dealer does seem to do fine there with in-house work on them.

I'm hoping to semi-retire in about a year, so the daily commute will go away mostly for me, and then will be to the store, for errands, the trips to the hardware store, lunch, etc...
And all of those should be less than 40 per day. The car will be paid off by then. And it's got about 72,000 miles on it now - will have 84,000 when I semi-retire. So I plan to keep both it and the Ridgeline for about another 4.5 years if possible.
Why 4.5 years? I can't see me without a truck - just too many reasons they come in handy for. And I don't see an EV or hybrid Ridgeline coming yet - would jump on that if there was one.
But what I do see that I'm liking so far, is a Ford F150 ET or hybrid in 2021. And I would like to get back to only having one vehicle. But won't be able to afford that truck new, no doubt.
So I'm looking out more to a 3 year off lease Ford F150 ET/hybrid in about 2024.
Would love if it was a merging of the Volt powertrain, and the Ridgeline interior/body, and got 40 miles per charge, plus ICE option for longer trips. But that's probably asking for too much.

 

"People flat out can't understand PHEV's."...

I have found this to be very true. The only people I've found that seem able to grasp the concept are other engineers (I'm one myself).

I'm reminded of the quote, forgot who said it, but it goes like "you know how dumb the average person is, right? Well half of them are dumber than that!

 

As a former owner of two Prius plug-ins who replaced them both with Gen 2 Volts in the past several months, I love these cars and don’t agree that the market isn’t there, or people don’t understand PheVs. I think this was GM’s game to lose and they messed it up. Of course it’s complicated in a big company so there could be complexities I’m not aware of but with all the positives of this car it just seems another company could have done a much better job selling and servicing it. So here is a question for you — Have any investors considered buying the Volt line from GM to continue servicing, manufacturing, and selling it?

 

Buying the product line? Production line? Please clarify.

 

Buying the business - the patents, technology, production line, plant and service staff, brand names, the kit and caboodle. Create a new company that would continue the manufacturing, product development, sales, service and support.

 

At this stage, the suppliers and GM have discarded tooling, the engineers all have moved to other programs (years ago), the plant is in the course of being shuttered.

Add to that, the real reason why it was discontinued was because people weren't buying what they were selling with $7,500 of government money put on the hood. That $7,500 is now $3,750 and becomes $1,875 at the end of this month.

 

The Volt business, that is. Everything to keep the Volt in production and make it a successful market competitor.

 

Without a doubt you know the auto business better than I, so I know it’s a wild idea, and as you say maybe it’s too late. Bummer. But I’ve seem other people say GM and dealers didn’t know how to sell it. But I would say Toyota did with the Prius, and Tesla has. So maybe another company could. Certainly in industries I know better like technology or healthcare, selling off product line businesses like this isn’t that unusual. It would take a lot of hutspah of course.

 

Toyota's not doing too well with the Prius either. We bought ours in spring of 2012 when gas was selling at $3.89/gallon and rapidly rising.

 

At least Toyota is somewhat responsive to their customers' wants and needs. The Prius can be ordered with AWD, very helpful for getting up steep snow covered side streets and driveways. Toyota's hybrid drive is now available in the Corolla hybrid and RAV4 hybrid vehicles. Toyota is working on a plug-in version of the RAV4, details TBD.

 

Toyota's most popular hybrid is no longer the Prius--it's the RAV4! And they are testing a PHEV version of the RAV4 Hybrid.

 

Rented a hybrid RAV4 in Iceland this summer. Pretty disappointed with the power train and mpg. Could go about 500 feet and about 25 mph before the gas engine turned on and that was light footing it.

USA EPA is 40 mpg highway. We got 35. Again light footing and only going about 60 mph on pretty flat roads. It's Power train makes one appreciate the Volt.

Overall, smooth enough and RAV not a bad car, just not electric enough.

 

Is anyone aware of the cost differences for the electric motors in the Volt versus those used in most current PHEVs?

I ask because it seems every other PHEV (that I'm aware of) other than the Volt has far weaker acceleration than the Volt, and will call upon the gas engine under full throttle. There must be a motive for this decision and I suspect cost savings is it, but wanted to see if anyone had any kind of objective figures on same.

 

I ask because it seems every other PHEV (that I'm aware of) other than the Volt has far weaker acceleration than the Volt, and will call upon the gas engine under full throttle. There must be a motive for this decision and I suspect cost savings is it, but wanted to see if anyone had any kind of objective figures on same.

Suggest the answer can be found in the regulations restricting/banning ICE vehicles in certain European city cores. What we get are US versions of what QINSP eloquently labeled "crappy Europhevs".